June gets a haircut

I never thought I would cut June's hair short until she was positively begging for it, but the time had come. At this point, and maybe for her whole life, her hair isn't nearly as curly or thick as Willa's. If I don't do Willa's hair in the morning it looks like a giant haystack. If I didn't do June's it was just kind of meh. Well, the more we have been rushed out the door, you can guess which tasks got left undone. Willa's hair had to get done, but June was coasting by.

The other thing is that she started hating to have it down because it bugged her. Her long hair was always getting in her way. In the bath, it would hang done and wrap around and get caught under her armpit. It was a pain in the car seat. She just started complaining all.the.time. if her hair wasn't completely pulled back. I couldn't just do one big ponytail in the back because she had so many little flyways that were always getting in her face, so I had to use various clips and extra rubber bands and it rarely looked good, in my opinion.

One night during her bath as she was complaining about it, I broached the idea of a haircut. It wasn't a threat, I was just curious how she felt about it. She was immediately on board and after that she kept bringing the idea up. I finally asked Ryan his thoughts and, naturally, he didn't really care - which is good because he's not all sentimental and prideful about her beautiful long locks like I am.
 

A lady in our ward is in cosmetology school and I thought she had done a really good job on other friends in the ward. She said she would love to see Junie.

I tried to get a good "before" photo, not much success. It was pajama day at preschool for Willa, so June is in her jammies too.

She was really brave even though I could tell she was a little nervous. Jessie (my friend) had her stand on the floor for part of the time because she's so little in the chair and while I tried to sing funny songs to calm her, she would start dancing - not effective for an even cut.

Isn't she just such a doll?

Sniff

Here she is later that day, having changed into a different set of pajamas. Most days I put a little clippy in and she looks so adorable. I had major cutting remorse after the haircut, I thought it was cute and sweet, but I couldn't believe what I had done! I felt a little sad about it the whole day, but I kept telling myself that it was cuter than a ratty ponytail. It's really grown on me and I love it now. Plus, June LOVES it and says it's "much more better". She calls getting a haircut a "shortcut" and loves showing it off to people and puts her hands just so up by her face.

Christmas Piano Recital

Willa's teacher has been giving her Christmas music ever since Halloween ended (though, for a week or two around Thanksgiving, we worked on the Primary song "For Health and Strength). Finally, it was time to choose a song for the Christmas recital. Her teacher pulled out a few options and it was love at first sound for Angels We Have Heard on High. She loved it and practiced it NON-STOP for the first day or two after her lesson until she had mastered the notes. It was really cute, when she first played it for Ryan she stopped right before the chorus and said, "And now, daddy, here comes the tricky section."

She also became quite frustrated at any mistake and was having full-fledged meltdowns during practice when she would get a wrong note. I tolerated these meltdowns with a mixture of humor, exasperation, compassion, and probably anger.

The day of the recital came and we actually had a lesson that morning. While I was helping her get shoes on for her lesson she told me she was a little scared (thinking we were going to the recital). Ah, performance anxiety. I can't believe we are there already. We talked to her teacher about being scared and her teacher gave some good advice to her. There is a duet option to the piece, so even though she had planned to play a solo, she thought maybe she would like her mom (me) to play a duet with her so she wouldn't be as nervous.

We practiced the duet, but when we got to the recital she decided to go solo. There was supposed to be a piano team before her as the first song, but one of them got stuck in traffic, so Willa had to go first. I think that threw her a little because she wasn't expecting it, but suddenly had to get up. You can see her fear and her concentration as she walked the long walk. I'm really proud of her for pulling through it. I especially love the extra long bow at the end. Her teacher tells her to say "hippopotamus" when she bows and I think the nerves maybe added to it. It was darling. The video isn't great, but when I tried to zoom closer it got all fuzzy.

She's doing so well in piano and I realized that she's learning some of the same songs that my 12 and 13 year old piano students are struggling with! She has her own five-year-old struggles, but I'm so glad we started with such a good teacher who is giving her a strong foundation of note reading and music reading. The teacher told us we could leave the recital early since it was in the evening and rather long. Willa didn't want to go, she was sitting with the next youngest girl, and totally enjoying her night. June, on the other hand, was becoming quite the pest so we hauled out of there.

This little girl, Valerie, gave her own solo recital a few days later. Ryan took the girls (I had a harp job). Willa is working on the same books and is just polishing the songs up and memorizing them, so it was good motivation to see Valerie's recital. Her teacher thinks we could have Willa's in January, but I think because of our cruise, we'll probably push it to February. Exciting things happening in the piano world, though! I kind of wonder if she'll really even take to the harp when we eventually start. It's fine if she doesn't, but I was just thinking about this holiday season when a lot of unexpected gigs popped up with lots of unexpected money. The harp is good for things like that, the piano isn't quite the specialty instrument.

Waiting for the start.

Her teacher got these chocolate pianos for the students. Willa was enchanted and wanted to place it so it looked like Mickey was playing. She then started eating it.

Girl with her piano

Ice Skating

There is an outdoor skating rink at the outdoor mall where Ryan's firm move to over the summer. We were meeting a family there for dinner and to see a little Christmas parade one evening and it happened to be the opening night for the rink. They had Elsa, Anna, and Hans skating out there. It was so cute and Willa was entranced and pretty much pestered us non-stop to go ice skating.

Finally a week later, it was her turn. Ryan started with her while I stayed with June, but I took over after a bit. Ice skating with a child is a labor of love. It probably took us 30 minutes to get around the tiny rink once, but slowly and surely she got used to the feeling and movement and was doing much better. She was in absolute heaven and wanted to stay out forever. She got brave enough to even skate a little without holding onto anything. There were a couple of hard spills, but she loved it. The next day at preschool she drew a picture of us skating at the rink with the Christmas tree in the background. She was so excited to show me the picture, it was adorable. She is dying to go again, but next time I think we will try to find an indoor, less touristy and expensive rink. It was fun for the experience, but now can go the cheapy route :).

It was a really pretty and festive setting with lots of holiday music.

Her drawing, the tree with the star, the blue ice. So sweet.

Thanksgiving

We were so excited for Thanksgiving because so many of Ryan's siblings were going to come to town for it. Shannon, Lianne, and Dan and Melinda all made the trek. This year we got to see Lianne's family twice, which is much better than to not seeing them at all for the past two years. It was also nice because my girls remembered everyone from being in Utah together in September.

Of course, the cousins had so much fun together. Shannon got the girls matching nightgowns that were so adorable...after I cut the buttons off of Willa's.

Claire slept over at our house on Thanksgiving Day. It was probably a bit of a letdown because we were getting home late so I was lecturing the girls on how we were going to go straight upstairs and brush teeth and change into pajamas. Claire started jumping on the bed and obedient (and tired) Willa said, "Claire, this is not the time for that!"

On Friday we all went to the Adventuredome to celebrate Scarlett's third birthday, which was coming up on Saturday. My girls were unsurprisingly scared of most of the rides, but they did more than I expected them to do. June surprised me by wanting to go on the Frog Hopper with the cousins and I feel so bad at the look of terror that came over her face when the ride started. She ended up putting her head in her arm until it was over. It didn't scar her too much because the next day she wanted to play "Frog Hopper" where I pretended to be the scared one and she comforted me. To this day she will talk about it and how it was a little scary.

Here is a picture before the ride started.

The next morning we met up for breakfast before everyone headed out. It was such a fun weekend except that poor Ryan came down with the flu and felt pretty miserable. It was a big letdown for him.

I had a great time cooking Thanksgiving dinner, though. Usually we go out of town and I don't get to do it. Rebecca ordered a turkey so all I needed to do was the sides. I actually enjoyed it a lot, even though it was more time consuming than I was expecting. I had to keep stopping to wash mixing bowls and measuring cups because I kept needing to reuse them.

A few things from November

Willa got some Legos for her birthday. Ryan helped her put them together the first time, then she begged to do them alone later. I sat by her and gave a little advice, but she's getting the hang of following the directions and coming up with something pretty similar to what it is meant to be.

Somehow a diaper (clean, I hope) made it into the washing machine. I had to take a photo because it was so hilarious how loaded with water it got. Those diapers can really hold a lot of fluid!

One of June's many illnesses this fall was Roseola. She seems to have a bad cold every other week or so. One week she just had a raging fever and all she wanted to do was lay on the couch all day. I was thinking I would take her to the doctor the next day if the fever hadn't broken. It broke that night and the next day I found this rash on her belly when I was putting her in the bath. I took the photo and sent it to my mom and Alyson and they immediately replied that it was Roseola.

The rash isn't painful at all, it appears after the fever breaks and you aren't contagious any more; it is one of the only ways you would know if you had Roseola unless you specifically knew to test for it during the fever. Poor June, I was reading up on it afterwards and basically it's a virus characterized by very high fevers. Kids are at risk for febrile seizures because their temperature can really spike. I feel bad that I wasn't more sympathetic to Junie and that I probably wasn't as vigilant in watching the fever as I should have been.

After much hard work and perseverance, Willa mastered the big monkey bars at the park. I'm proud of her for working so hard at it, while simultaneously dreading the next challenge she sets for herself. She gets very frustrated at her failure but will not take any help or suggestions.

During this same period she made it to the top of quite a big rock wall. I get so frustrated with this one because she just stares and looks at it, but she gets stuck about halfway up and starts crying but won't take suggestions about ways to go up or to get down, she just wants me to carry her down. Normally, I just let her hold onto the wall crying until she figures out a solution or jumps. Or when I get really annoyed, I rescue her on the condition that if she does it again with the same screaming reaction, then we are going home. I don't mind her trying, just the meltdowns in the middle of it. One time a random person rescued her. My main philosophy at the park is that the girls need time to explore their surroundings and try new things and I don't always want to be the one to rescue them from whatever they do. I want them to try to figure it out on their own. She's about 50/50 on the wall now. Here is after one successful ascent.

During all of this, June likes to find just the right stick and "fix" all the screws in the playground.

I also have this video clip of her running from park toy to park toy singing "You can do whatever you want, you can do whatever you want. This, or this, whatever you want." The freedom to do whatever you want must seem like Xanadu to a two-year old. 

One last cute thing about June. She calls herself Junie-bug and a few weeks ago I was explaining about middle names. For a while, if you asked her what her name was, she would say, "June Aunt Becca Daniels" for June Rebecca, it was totally adorable. Unfortunately, she's corrected herself and now says it the right way, but it was awfully sweet when her name was June Aunt Becca.

Halloween

Finally, it's December and I'm going to post about Halloween. Happily, Halloween corresponds with Nevada Day AND the end of term for public schools, so Ryan gets a three-day weekend for work and most kids have a whopping five-day break. Willa's preschool party was on Wednesday, since they got Friday off for Nevada Day. She decided to wear her "Mommy Cinderella" dress for this party.

They trick-or-treated around the preschool and younger siblings got to dress up and go along, too,which was the bees-knees for June. June was determined to go as Rainbow Dash even though she's the exact perfect size to wear the Lambchops costume this year! It about killed me to not use it, but she passed on all attempted candy bribes, which is saying a lot because she lovesss candy.

Luckily, I got a little photo of her in the costume while playing at home. In her defense, it's a bit of a bulky costume to wear.

Since everyone was out of school on Friday, we met the Thalmans for a hike and picnic at Red Rock. It was a beautiful day out there.

Finally, we got around the carving our pumpkins. My memories of pumpkin carving include using kitchen knives in a freezing cold garage. My fingers would be so cold and frozen after pulling out the pumpkin guts, it was miserable. Much nicer in warm Las Vegas with appropriate tools. I was expecting the worst with the girls and sharp objects, but it was surprisingly enjoyable.

We ate Halloween dinner at Rebecca's new house and went trick or treating to a few houses in her neighborhood. There aren't a lot of kids there and most of the houses were dark, but it was fun to do just a little with Rebecca. For actual Halloween, Willa was a fairy, she did her hair herself (meaning, she didn't want me to do it).

By the time we got home to our neighborhood, the girls had more fun just sitting in the driveway and passing out candy. This was awesome because it lowered our candy consumption considerably later on. There was plenty of candy, but we weren't swimming in it. The only sad part was when June went to give a teenager in a wolf mask some candy and he purposely scared her. What a punk! I should have grabbed that candy back. His friend was polite enough to take the mask off when they were passing by on the street again. Overall, though, a very fun night and weekend.

The High Roller

I've been wanting to go on the High Roller, a big observation wheel on the Strip, for quite a while. I believe it's the tallest one in the world and it seemed like a fun attraction that we could enjoy without having to battle hordes of tourists, casinos, and cigarette smoke. On Tuesdays it is half off for locals so Kim and I met down there in the afternoon when her girls were out of school. 

We had a lot of fun! The kids were all free and it ended being a very affordable activity. Here we are getting ready to board. The wheel moves very slow (as I had to keep reassuring my girls before) and I was surprised that it doesn't stop to let you on and off. It thought maybe it would unclip from the wheel like a ski chair does, but nope. 

It took forty minutes for the entire revolution and we had the whole pod to ourselves. It was a very fun and affordable afternoon activity. I'm glad we got out of our comfort zone and tried something new.

Swimming at Red Rock

 I just remembered this photos and found them again, so this post is several months behind schedule. Red Rock resort sent a mailer out at the beginning of summer that had a bunch of locals' deals that were good until the end of July. The one that was perfect for us was the pool entry for two. It expired on July 31 and that's the exact day I ended up using it. I kept procrastinating because I needed to get a new players' card (which is basically like a Smiths card or grocery card, but if you use it at the casinos you get points, and you can use it at restaurants, or anything at the casino - not just the gambling). Anyway, the unknown always causes me a little anxiety and procrastination even though I know it will be easy if I just get off my duff and do it.

So, we almost didn't go, but I'm so glad we did. It was easy to get my new card and no hassle getting in. It's always fun to have a new pool adventure, especially at a fancy resort pool. They've got this large wade in area that leads to the bigger pool so there was fun for all ages and abilities. We stayed until the girls were ready to go home. It was one of those perfect summer days when you do something out of your regular day schedule and just decide to pack snacks and throw the humdrum to the wind.

And who can resist goggle-faced babies?

The only downside is that Ryan was working. And really, the pass was only good for two people (luckily they didn't count June), so he couldn't have come anyway. It's just sad that his office is about a quarter mile from where we were and there we were soaking up the sun and he was living the working man's life up in his office.

Sinatra

A few weeks ago I got an exciting phone call. The principal harpist for the LV philharmonic needed a sub for a show she was doing on the Strip and wanted to know if I was available. When you move to a new place, you meet some harpists and then it's just kind of a waiting game until one day all the other subs are busy and you get called in. It's not that you can't do it, it's just that they don't know you that well and they have their usual people they work with. Then, if you can do the gig well, you're on their radar for future jobs. I had met this harpist before and she is good friends with another good harpist friend of mine, but I had never played for her. So, like I said, I was really excited to get called because it was really a good foot in the door for me.

The show is/was a Frank Sinatra show at the Palazzo. Now the music wasn't difficult but the show has been playing five nights a week since January, so they obviously weren't having any rehearsals for me to try playing with them. I sat on the stage two nights with a copy of my music to watch the show and I also had a recording from the show that I practiced with at home, but that was it. Even though it was pretty simple stuff, I was really diligent about being prepared. I didn't want one note, one pedal change, or one rhythm to catch me off guard.

The really cool thing about the show is that they wanted it to the most authentic Frank Sinatra show ever. They put it on this year because he would be turning 100 this December. The man who sings knew Sinatra and an impersonator. He goes through almost two hours of make-up to look like Sinatra and he totally does. The conductor/pianist was Sinatra's personal music director and pianist for ten years, and half of the orchestra was Sinatra's original band that played with him. Apparently they even flew some of the musicians in who were living elsewhere in an attempt to get as many original people as possible. The lead sheets are the real deal, the ones they used for Sinatra. Some of the harp parts are nearly hand-written and have lots of different harpists' markings on them. It is so COOL! 

I was excited and intimidated to work with such amazing musicians. The conductor's name is Vinnie Falcone, which might be the most mafia-sounding name I've ever heard in real life and he's pretty famous. One minute he's conducting, then he's playing the music, then he stands up and conducts by just snapping the fingers in one hand. The main harpist was telling me that every night he plays things differently on the piano, just following the chord progressions. The drummer is Tommy Check and he has no music either, no lead sheets, nothing, just a list of songs. One time while I was watching, the singer just looked at Vinnie and said a random song and they started performing it, drums came in, and then they looked at the bassist, who is also quite well-known, and he jump up off his stool and started playing too. It's just incredible. The other harpist said that they do that a lot - just add in random songs in the spur of the moment and those main guys can just play with no music.

I played on the 24th and am going to play again this coming week. It went really, really well and I was so glad I'd practiced and put the time in to feel comfortable with the music and to have fun. The harpist texted me the next day and said she had heard great reports about me and that everyone will love to have me play with them again. I felt pretty good about how I played, but I was so pleased to hear it from her too. She thanked me for being concientious about the music and taking good care of the job. It was a really big high to play in such a setting with such an ensemble and to be part of something to exciting and professional. I'm also excited to have earned the trust of the principal harpist so that she will call me for future jobs.

Getting ready for the show.

View of the back side of the curtain as everyone is taking their seats.

As a side note, I really feel like being a musician would be a great job for a mom or dad if two parents needed or wanted to work or if you were a single parent. Curtain is at 8:00 most nights and I left at 6:30 to get there an hour early. So I was home with the girls all day, had dinner, helped bathe them, and left as Ryan was finishing the bedtime routine. I was home around 10:00 or 10:15 so it wasn't a super late night either. I mean, you wouldn't be able to support yourself from this gig alone, but if you were also teaching and doing a few weddings or other events a month it would be a comfortable income and you could really be there for your kids.

All about me

My birthday is exactly one week after Willa's. So if you do the math, I turned 30 the week after Willa was born, so technically I managed to have a baby while still in my 20's. That's important to me for no important reason. I was all partied out from Willa's multi-day extravaganza and definitely all caked out, but we did manage to still have some fun. Ryan took the girls to get me some small gifts and pick out cupcakes. They were so excited, which is about 90% of the fun, Willa kept telling me she wanted to see my reaction when I saw my cupcakes. Ryan got me a breadbox, which is something I've been wanting for quite a while. When my parents were in town they also got me a little something that I've been wanting for a while.

Ta da! I'm officially a real grown up. I can now buy bulk items in the freezer section at Costco and open the kitchen freezer without risking several heavy frozen objects falling out on my toes. I love it so much. Now I think it just needs a little matching friend refrigerator to go with it.

So now I'm 35 and it does feel a bit old. I swear my gray hairs have suddenly multiplied around my temples. I might have to start dyeing my hair in the next year or so, or maybe I'll just let it go gray naturally. It's weird to think about gray hair for me. My body is shutting down; a betrayal and sign of my own physical fallibility in the more dramatic interpretation.

Rebecca volunteered to babysit so Ryan and I went out for dinner. It was an actual sit-down restaurant that didn't serve pizza or burgers, win! I don't remember the last time we got an actual date on my actual birthday, so it really all felt quite festive. They belatedly sang to me in Primary today (I'm the pianist). When we sing to the kids we give them a special card to take to the bishop after church where he gives them a giant star lollipop. I love it, the kids look forward to it and the bishop gets to personally talk to each child at least once a year. When the adults have a birthday, they give us a little card that says we can go to Relief Society that day if we want. I just laughed when they handed me mine, the pianist can't quite get up and leave like some of the others during sharing time.

Willa's Five Five FIVE!!

This post is almost two weeks late, but Willa finally turned the big FIVE and her birthday was the stuff of hopes and dreams :). We ended up celebrating quite a bit because my parents were in town over the weekend so we did a cake with them and their presents on Sunday. Then I also wanted to celebrate on her actual birthday, which was Wednesday. So on Wednesday, Ryan and I decorated a little with balloons and streamers and were planning on having a low-key dinner and family presents. Rebecca and Brandon came and with their added gifts and the other gifts that got mailed in from far-away family, it ended up being quite the fete. By that time I was all partied out, but wait there was more. We had plans to go to Chuck E Cheese on Thursday night with the Thalmans to officially celebrate and have her cake. (The Thalmans have music lessons on Wednesday night, which was why we couldn't condense these two parties.)

Willa kind of wanted a party with lots of friends at the park like we did last year. She also wanted to invite Bridgett who is in kindergarten now. All of Willa's friends around here are in preschool on TTH and Willa has it MWF, so it was doubly hard because I couldn't do a party with them in the morning because someone was in preschool and we couldn't do a weekday because Bridgett was in school. I was not very interested in doing it on a Saturday because the weather is just starting to be good so the parks can get quite busy and some people go early in the morning to reserve tables. It just seemed like a big hassle. Our house is also just kind of too small to do a party here. My compromise was to suggest to Willa that instead of doing a big friend party, we could just make a special invite to Bridgett and Abby to come celebrate at Chuck E Cheese. She thought that was a good alternative.

Homemade cake with grandma and grandpa. This is about creative as I get, unfortunately.

Successful blowing out of the candle.

She got a sleeping bag and a tent, which we are excited about. They threw in a sleeping bag for June too for good measure.

On Wednesday I took cupcakes to preschool and they let us come in for the last few minutes of class to sing to her. June felt especially grown-up because she got to sit at the table with all the preschool kids. It was hilarious as we were leaving because June was waving bye to everyone like she was on her home turf. She's five year old in a two year old body, poor dear.

Forgive the blurry pictures.

That night when she opened presents with Brandon and Rebecca over, she was enormously excited. It was amazing to see all the uninhibited joy and excitement. It made Ryan and me a little contemplative about how we can nourish that in her and encourage it since all too soon she may become self-conscious or "better" at masking her emotions. I hope she never changes, but I know it's an eventuality and it makes me a little sad. She was squealing and jumping up and down as she opened each gift. Brandon gave two little My Little Ponies. At first she thought there was just one and she was really excited, but then I showed her the second one and she couldn't believe it. She was screaming out their names (Pinkie Pie and Flutter Shy) and jumping and running around. It was so fun. We also got her a Cinderella dress from the new movie and an Elsa dress that I snagged a few months ago at the Disney store for like 80% off. We tried to keep gifts to a minimum, but she got very spoiled by aunts and uncles and in the end there were quite a few presents to open, lucky girl.

Blowing out cupcakes from Rebecca.

The next day, playing with her gift from the O'Kelley's and wearing her "Mommy Cinderella" dress. She calls the new movie Mommy Cinderella to distinguish it from the animated one. I love the new movie, it's so sweet and even got Ryan's approval when we watched together as a family one night.

And unfortunately, the parties (and this blog post) don't end there. Ryan and I were pretty partied out, but we still had Chuck e Cheese on the schedule for the next evening. Since the only other time I have visited this fine establishment, was at 9 am to just ride rides in the heat of the summer, I was unprepared with the noise and crowds of evening - even on a weeknight. They let you bring in your own cake if you don't want to book a party with them, so we did that and ordered pizza for dinner.

I love this photo of all the girls. Best friends for sure and their personalities are shining right through. We ordered a special Frozen cake from the grocery store. I loved going there when I was young and flipping through the book of all the possible cakes and choosing one for my birthday. We had fun doing it for Willa this year.

Among her gifts, Bridgett got them matching friendship rings from Deseret Book. 

This photo looks more serious than it was. They were having a great time giggling and playing up there.

The whole place was chaotic, even though Kim informs me that it wasn't bad at all compared to what she's been to. It was so loud and the noises just didn't blend. There was a birthday area that was blaring its own music, then all the music from the games. My nerves were on edge. We spent a good 2+ hours there and I hope that has filled our quota for the rest of forever. June was funny. She was a little unnerved by the crowds, but liked to sit on one ride holding her little cup of tokens and just putting them in one after another and riding continuously. So Happy Birthday to Willa! It was an exhausting but fun week and I can't believe I have a five year old.